Atari pings Pong Apple champion wannabes

Atari founder Nolan Bushnell will judge entrants in a $100,000 competition to bring iconic ball-fondling game Pong to Apple iGadgets.

Forty years after he scored his first hit with the arcade version of Pong, Bushnell will help oversee the Pong Indie Developer Challenge to “re-imagine” the primitive game for iPhones, iPods and iPads. A number of Pong-like games are available from the App Store - but none have been blessed by Atari.

It was the combination of Bushnell's entrepreneurial chutzpah and Al Alcorn's engineering brainpower that led to the production of the world’s first successful computer arcade game in 1972. They followed that smash hit with the first successful home console game, also Pong.

The winner of Atari's competition could see their game appear in Apple’s App Store under the official Atari brand, a “long-term” publishing agreement with the company that’ll include development and creative resources, plus marketing support, and a chance to win up to $100,000.

Bushnell will be joined by members of the Atari management team and freelance journalist Mike Schramm. Atari fans also get the chance to vote.